Sports

When President Trump hit the links at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in February, it seemed like just another round for the golfer-in-chief. But it wound up quite the international news story — thanks in part to a scoop by a little-known blog.

With guest host John Donvan.

NFL pre-season is halfway over and Colin Kaepernick still hasn’t been signed to a team.

Baltimore and Miami both passed on the quarterback, who gained attention outside of sports circles when he declined to stand in protest during the pre-game national anthem.

Few things are more delightful than a dog running on the beach. Except, maybe, a dog surfing on a beach.

Dozens of dogs — and more than 1,000 people — showed up to the second annual World Dog Surfing Championships on Saturday in Pacifica, Calif.

Dog surfing is relatively new — the first competition was in San Diego 12 years ago.

And while the event may seem silly, competitive dog surfing is growing quickly, with contests in Hawaii, Florida, Texas and as far away as Australia.

If he had to choose two teams to play in the World Series based only on their home stadiums, Rafi Kohan would like to see the Boston Red Sox versus the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Red Sox's Fenway Park "really is a magical place and they've done a tremendous job with their renovations" he says, and the Pirates' PNC Park is "just a beautiful little park."

Steven Bartman was in a baseline seat at Wrigley Field in the eighth inning of the sixth game of the 2003 National League Championship when fame fell on him.

The Chicago Cubs were just five outs from the World Series and Luis Castillo of the Florida Marlins chipped a short fly ball down the left field line. Moises Alou, the Cubs left fielder, leaped and reached into the seats. But Steve Bartman and half a dozen other fans stretched for the ball, too. Everyone missed, but the ball smacked off of Steven Bartman's outstretched hand. No out.

Saturday in London, Jamaican Usain Bolt will run a final 100 meters at track and field's World Championships at approximately 4:45 p.m. ET. A week later, after a relay finale, he says he'll retire. Bolt will leave with an eye-popping highlight reel that includes eight Olympic gold medals over the past three summer games.

Ara Parseghian, a Hall of Fame coach who guided not one but three major college football programs to national prominence, died in the early hours of Wednesday at age 94. The president of the University of Notre Dame, where Parseghian steered the team from losing records to a pair of national championships, announced his death in an extensive tribute online.

Madison Holleran ran track at the University of Pennsylvania. She was popular and beautiful — and raised in a big, supportive family in a New Jersey suburb. "By all accounts, Madison in high school was this young, happy, vibrant, wildly successful human being, who was destined — according to everyone around her — to do amazing things with her life," says sportswriter Kate Fagan.

The women used to be so nervous about playing wheelchair basketball in public that they had opaque screens erected to conceal the court.

Now their faces are being splashed across media outlets in Afghanistan.

On Sunday, Afghanistan's national women's wheelchair basketball team won its first championship at the 4th annual Bali Cup International Tournament in Indonesia. It played against women's teams from India, Indonesia and Thailand, beating Thailand 65-25 in the final match.

A year after the Chicago Cubs won their first World Series title in more than a century, a long-suffering fan is getting another reward.

Steve Bartman was handed a personalized 2016 World Series ring, after being blamed for costing the team the title 13 years earlier.

Los Angeles, which hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984, will be home to the Games again — in 2028.

The organizers of LA's Olympics bid had originally been pursuing the 2024 games. But they ceded those games to Paris, and agreed to wait for the next round.

The decision will be officially announced on Monday afternoon. NPR's Tom Goldman has confirmed the successful bid with an LA 2024 official.

LA will be only the second city to host the modern Olympics three times. London became the first three-time Olympic City in 2012.

In case you follow swimming only every four years, here's a new name to learn: Caeleb Dressel.

The 20-year-old University of Florida student won his seventh gold medal at World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Sunday – tying him with Michael Phelps for most golds at the meet. Three of those were in individual races, four were in relays.

A day before, Dressel set a record all his own: three gold medals in a single night.

Almost five years ago, soon after the suicide of linebacker Junior Seau, the NFL announced it was donating $30 million to the National Institutes of Health for brain research.